Six Degrees Group Raising Its Game

Synergistic merger with capital support group

HAMLIN LOVELL

Capital Support Group (CSG)’s rather anodyne name, and the confidentiality of its clients’ identities, bely its stature as a leading cloud, IT and hosting service provider to alternative investment managers. Since being cofounded by Nigel Brooks and Dean Foreman in 2002, the firm has quietly grown to 135 staff and 180-190 alternative investment manager clients, which manage over £500 billion, with a typical fund size of at least $1bn (though some high end start-ups are also serviced).

Painstaking attention to detail and client service has earned CSG the respect and custom of a huge swathe of the alternative investment management industry, parallel to converged technology infrastructure provider Six Degrees Group (6DG)’s renown in other industries, including investment banking, where it services seven of the largest 14 players globally.

New ownership for CSG - and 6DG

6DG heard of CSG’s meteoric rise through the IT grapevine and set its sights on what already looks like its most transformational acquisition, which is no mean feat. 6DG founders, including CEO Alastair Mills, have a recurring pattern of successfully building businesses and integrating acquisitions. UK mid-market private equity specialist, Penta Capital, invested alongside the same management team and monetised its investment twice in less than five years. AIM-listed telecom re-seller SpiriTel was sold to Daisy in November 2010, and within months of non-competes expiring the gang regrouped to form 6DG. Four years later in 2015, Penta sold its 6DG stake. “It was a good exit for Penta, which backed the same winning team for a second time,” says 6DG Group Strategy and Marketing Director, Campbell Williams.

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